Art Project

So, I posted about starting the Letter of the Week with Kendall and I actually started it today!  Kendall had so much fun working on her "project."  She's so proud of herself and it was a blast to do together.  She really enjoys coloring, painting and cutting paper.

Here are some pictures of our little artist at work:

Practicing her painting skills while her letter A is drying.

We ended up getting the easel out of the basement to make it easier for her to  paint.

Gluing the back of her letter A

Putting the alligator's teeth on her A.

Trying to get the google eyes to stick to the paper instead of sticking to her fingers!

Alligator starts with A!

She had so much fun that I need to be more disciplined to do at least one art project with her each week if not more.  We hung this project in the playroom from our artwork wire.  She was so proud of it and can't wait for Daddy to come home and see what she's done!

Kids Say The Darnedest Things!

Kendall and I spend a lot of time in the car - driving Riley to school, picking him up from school, driving on errands, to dance class, to Little Gym, to play dates, etc.  She comes up with some pretty interesting comments as we're traveling.  Tuesday morning Riley and I were practicing his spelling words on the way to school and his last word was "rude."  I used it in this sentence "Sometimes Kendall is rude."  She let me know that she was paying full attention to our conversation by replying "Yes I am rude!  Yes I am!"  Riley and I laughed so hard we almost started crying.

Kendall asked me for fruit snacks one night and I told her no, that she already had some that day.  She kept begging for some to which I replied, "Sorry, your Mommy's mean."  She got upset and told me "No!  You're not mean!  You're kind!"

Every morning, Kendall jumps out of bed and comes over to our room to crawl in bed with me...Sounds nice, right?  Not usually.  She lays on top of me and then continues to rutsch (PA Dutch for wiggling) around.  The other morning she was being bratty so I sent her out of our bed.  She was mad and started crying.  A few minutes later she comes back to me and says "Mom, I need to tell you something."  I say "What do you want to tell me."  She says "I...Love...You."  Boy she's learned how to get back in my good graces, hasn't she!

Then yesterday after dropping Riley off, as we were leaving the school parking lot, she says to me, "Mom, I like Ra Ra."  I said "Oh yea?"  She said, "Yea, he's cute!  I like Daddy too."  Sometimes she can be so cute and sweet...when she's not being rude!

Can't Wait To Try...

I've had the best of intentions of working on a letter of the week with Kendall, but as always with my best laid plans, it never seems to work out the way I plan...A few months back I shared one of my new favorite blogs on Facebook.  It's called No Time For Flashcards.  On this site are lots of wonderful ideas of things to do with your kids.

My new plan is to create these letters in advance - or at least a few weeks in advance and have them on hand to do with Sissy.  She's been doing well with learning her letters and their sounds so now seems as good a time as any to get started with these craft projects!

Here's the plan.  We'll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start!).  Sorry, got carried away there!  We'll work on the letter A by creating this picture:

You draw the A on the paper and have them color it, then cut it out and glue on the teeth and eyes!  How fun!

You can also make an apple tree to go along with the letter A!

They also offer ideas on books to read to go along with the letter of the week as well as other projects to work on...

Someone remind me why I signed my daughter up for preschool next year?  Oh that's, right to have a few hours of peace two times a week!  She's excited about the idea of going to Riley's school next year anyway.  She has told Riley very specifically that she will be going to HER class next year and he will be going to HIS class!  

Great Quote!

As I'm sure happens to many of you, when you check your email inbox, you often find jokes, sad stories, etc. that a friend or family member has forwarded to you.  I find that there are some days I just can't keep up with all the clutter of my inbox on top of refereeing the kids, making sure the dog doesn't pee on the floor or steal food off the table, getting the laundry done so my son has a clean uniform to wear to school each day, making dinner, taking a shower, etc.

Today I received a great email from my "Honorable Father" and felt it was worth sharing.  It was just one line.  A quote from Ben Stein (who is the teacher on Ferris Bueller..."Bueller?  Bueller?"  He's been in and out of the political arena as well as taking a stand against Darwin and the theory of evolution with the independent film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" regarding how science is keeping God out of our classrooms.  So all that being said, this quote from Ben Stein struck a chord with me:

"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that the government wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens."

~Ben Stein

Food for thought...

Watch Out...The Tiger Cubs Have Invaded Camp Williams!

This past fall there was a terrible accident that occurred at Camp Williams here in Utah.  The National Guard was holding machine gun practice during a HOT, DRY, WINDY summer day here in the Utah dessert when a brush fire started and ended up getting out of control and taking over the ridge into the town of Herriman, which is just west of the valley from us.  Andy and I watched the ridge burn from our back yard.  It was amazing to see how quickly a fire can get out of control.  Thankfully no one was hurt and only a few structures were destroyed.  This fire made national news - we had gotten phone calls from family back in PA wondering how close the fire was to our house.  According to our neighbors across the street who moved in from Herriman just after the fire, it was pretty scary not knowing what the outcome was going to be.

Well, the National Guard invited Riley's Tiger Cub den to visit the base.  They had so much fun and thankfully the only machine gun shooting happened via simulator!  The boys got to check out a tank simulator, practice machine gun shooting, and sit in an amphibious vehicle.  This allowed the boys to earn a "Go See It" elective.  What fun for a bunch of first grade boys and their dads on a dreary Saturday morning!

Hi-Ya!

Riley has a little buddy in school who is into karate.  After much discussion between the two boys, Riley came home very excited about the possibility of trying karate.  I talked to his friend's mom as well as another mom I know who's son take karate at the same place and both had wonderful things to share about this program.

So we checked into it.  They are expected to attend classes twice a week which is my only concern since we already committed to scouts year round.  We are giving karate a try but at this point, I think it's a go because he fell in love with it at his first lesson yesterday.  They do the first two lessons privately so the new students can be caught up enough to participate in a group lesson.

Here's my little man looking handsome in his karate uniform:

Getting instruction

"Hi-Ya!"

So, I think we'll be adding karate of our list of many after school activities!  It will be great for his confidence, coordination, balance and self-control.  I can't wait to see how well he does in his next lesson.

It's Derby Time!

One of those special events in boy scouts is the Pinewood Derby.  Riley's den had changed the traditional boys scout derby event into a Humpty Dumpty race where the kids create and build their derby cars but the cars have to be able to carry a raw egg without it breaking.

Riley and Andy worked on his car for a few days, figuring out how they wanted to create it, make it safe for the egg and how to decorate it.

Here is the final Humpty Dumpty Derby car:

My proud little Tiger Cub!

Registering his car and checking it's weight

Riley was disappointed that his egg cracked in it's first heat, but he was satisfied by the fact that it was the fastest in it's heat...I think it went so fast that it hit the bumper to stop them at the end of the track and the impact cracked his egg.  Poor kid was heartbroken.  But Momma cheered him up by telling him how fast his was and how cool it was that there were smashed eggs all over the track.  After that, he was in much better spirits and had so much fun watching all the heats.  The last race, the parents decided to place all the cars with eggs and race them all down the track at once!  

What a fun event!

Watching the derby heats with our friends Jake and Ava.  

We had a great pot luck dinner before the races began.  What a great way to spend a Saturday night with the kids.  You guessed it, Andy was traveling for work that day and missed the race!  He was disappointed to not have been able to be there, but he called on our way there and we called him on our way home.  

Mommy/Son Ski Day

Today was my first day to ski with Riley this year and I'm pleased to report that our money for lessons at Snowbird was well spent.  He's done so well and we had so much fun today.

We warmed up on the trails near Baby Thunder - his favorites are the little trails through the woods like Mini Miners Camp.  After that, he was cold so we took at hot chocolate break then headed up to try some bigger/longer trails.  We then headed out to try some blues.  The kid did SOOOO well!  He had just as much fun on the blues as I did.  We played "follow the leader" almost the entire day.  I made him try to follow my trail so he would practice his snake turns.  By the end of the day, he was turning so well!  If I'd leave it up to him, he'd go faster down the hills and rely on "pizza" to slow himself.  He even went into the terrain park - he didn't jump anything, but skied up and over the jumps so he thought he was pretty cool.  He wants to go on some black diamonds, but obviously he's not ready for that...so I gave him a challenge.  I told him that Mommy hasn't skied any black diamonds since I lived in NY, so when he can do his snake turns correctly ALL the time on his own, then I'll ski a black diamond with him at Snowbird.

Riding up the lift at the beginning of the day

Taking Momma through Mini Miner's Camp - which are fun trails through the woods for kids.  There are fun mining town decorations to check out.

Playing follow the leader with mom on a powder trail...he liked it...maybe he'll be a powderhound?

Heading down Big Emma

Heading down Bassackwards - a long BLUE trail!

When did my kid get so daring?  His confidence has gone through the roof!  I couldn't be more happy about it!  I'm so proud of him.  He and I had so much fun today and we're both looking forward to our next ski day together!

Celebrity Spotting!

This week is the Sundance Film Festival which takes place here in Utah.  There are celebrities all over Salt Lake and Park City right now.  We thought we'd go on a celebrity spotting hunt of our own.

Look who we found:

Yes, Cinderella came to visit all the way from her castle!

She even let her mean step-sisters tag along for the trip!

Another princess who reminded Kendall of Snow White came to the Salt Lake Valley this weekend too!  What a score for Miss Kendall!

What would a film festival weekend be without seeing some superheros?

Yes, some of the cast of Star Wars are in town today...

Riley was so excited!

Gotta get a picture with a storm trooper!

"Look Mommy, it's a trooper!"

We were hoping to see 'Punzel in person, but she was arriving later than originally planned so this was the best we could do.

Gotta include Tiana in the princess mix.

CP30 as Riley calls him with R2D2 where there in cardboard form.

So obviously we didn't go to Park City for the day to find our celebrities.  There was a "Winter Palooza" going on at the Sandy Expo Center.  The kids had a blast on the bounce houses, swing sets, paint ball, etc.  The best part for them was seeing the characters in real life.  

They also had some wild life there and the kids took advantage of seeing it up close and personal.

Kendall was the only one who would pet a snake today.  She actually touched two different snakes!  Riley LOVES snakes but was too nervous to touch one.  He said he'd pet a lizard, but not a snake...

Luckily we found a lizard for him to pet.

Kendall petting the softest animal in the world...a chinchilla.  

Miniature horses were on hand for the kids to see.

To top off our great morning, Daddy took us to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch!  What a great family day we had today...Now Andy and Daddy are busy working on his pinewood derby car for next Saturday's Humpty Dumpty race for scouts.  The smell of spray paint has spread from the garage into the house.  How lovely!  

Tomorrow Riley and I head up to Snowbird for a Mommy/Son skiing date!  Can't wait for that!  Hope you had a happy Saturday too!

Getting In The Valentine's Spirit

I've never had a wreath specifically for Valentine's Day before, but I saw this idea on a craft blog somewhere and figured I'd give it a try.  I'm so glad I did because I love it and it cost me less than $3 to make!

I took a wire hanger and bent it into a heart shape - I snipped it off the part that actually hangs on the rod afterwards because I didn't need it to attach to the door.  I had considered tying a bow on it and hanging it up that way, but chose this instead.  I bought a roll of red tulle at the craft store (with a 40% off coupon).   I cut the tulle into 6 inch strips and then attached it to the wire just like you do to make a tutu.  For those of you who've never made a tutu, fold the tulle in half then knot it onto the wire by putting the two ends through the loop end.  I used the entire spool on this wreath.  Making it full was the trick.  

Pretty simple and inexpensive...Just what I like in a craft!  Thought I'd share incase anyone else wanted to try it.  

Watch Out! Superheros Have Appeared!

The kids begged me to make them superhero capes this week so one day after school, we stopped by Joann's to see what kind of fabric was on sale and what the kids might have been interested in using for their capes.

Here's what we came up with for them:

Her's is a princess cape and his is a shark cape...That's what they wanted, so that's what they got!

Her's has Rapunzel on the underside and his has sharks on the underside.

Superhero's in action!

They are both running around the house like nuts in their capes - which actually isn't all that different than any other day except they are dressed in princess and shark capes.